SEMINAR ON

MULTIPLE CHOICE
QUESTIONS
PRESENTED TO PRESENTED BY
Dr. SMRITI ARORA MANISHA JOSHI
PROFESSOR M.Sc. NURSING 2ND SEMESTER
ACON ACON
OBJECTIVES

At the end of this topic students will be able to

 Decide when and how to use multiple choice questions as a

method of assessment.

 Frame a correct and appropriate type of multiple choice

question for any given specific learning objective.

 CONTENT
 DEFINITION
 CHARACTERSTICS
 TYPES OF MCQ
 ADVANTAGES
 DISADVANTAGES
 LIMITATION
 OPTION
 WRITE GOOD MCQ TEST QUESTION
 VERSITILITY
 RELIABILITY
 VALIDITY
 PARTS OF MCQ
 SUMMARY
 REFERENCES
DEFINITION

Multiple choice is a form of assessment in which respondents

are asked to select the best possible answer out of the choices

from a list. If guessing an answer, there's usually a 25 percent

chance of getting it correct on a 4 answer choice question.

The multiple choice format is most frequently used in

educational testing, in market research, and in elections, when a

person chooses between multiple candidates, parties, or policies.

CHARACTERSTICS OF MCQ
Multiple-choice Questions are probably the most widely used of

objective tests. Such questions are normally composed of four

parts.

 STEM - question or incomplete statement or picture

 OPTIONS - suggested answers

 DISTRACTERS - incorrect responses

 KEY - correct response

TYPES OF MULTIPLECHOICE
QUESTIONS:
Single Select Multiple Choice Question
Single select questions are the questions where a respondent is
asked to pick only one answer, from a predetermined set of
responses of at least two or more options.
 Multi select Multiple Choice Questions
 Multi select multiple choice questions are similar to Multiple
Choice questions. However, there is a slight difference in this
question type, that these type of questions can have more than
one correct answer.
 Drop Down Menu Multiple Choice Questions
 in this question type the answers appear in a drop down list.
When you click on the drop arrow it shows multiple answer
options from which the participant can choose the most
appropriate answer option that responds to the particular
question that is being asked.
 Star Rating Multiple Choice Question
 This question type allows the respondent to rate a question or
rank items using stars. More stars indicate a higher rating and
vice versa.
Text Slider Multiple Choice Question
The text slider questions are a good alternative to 
open ended questions, as they help the respondents gain some
clarity of the questions asked, as the answers are already
available to the question and the respondents only have to use
the slide option to point the most appropriate answer.
 Push to Social Multiple Choice Question

 The Push To Social multiple choice questions allows you to

send positive feedback on a survey to social networking sites

like Facebook, Twitter and Google.

 Numeric Slider Multiple Choice Question
 In numeric slider multiple choice question the respondent can
slide and answer the question by actually giving it a score
between 0 to 100.
Thumbs Up/Down Multiple Choice Question
It helps the respondents to make a quick choice between like and

dislike.
Smiley Rating Multiple Choice Question
The Smiley Rating question lets respondents evaluate a
statement on a visual scale of smile
 Multi Point Scale Matrix Table Multiple Choice Questions
 Multi point matric table questions allow you to ask about
multiple items in one single question. A Rating Scale question,
commonly known as a Likert Scale, is a variation of the
Matrix question where you can assign weights to each answer
choice.
 Spread sheet based Multiple Choice Questions:
 These question types usually have the choices where the
respondent can like extremely or dislike extremely and also
write why they have liked or disliked the particular option and
give suggestions too.
 Side-By-Side Matrix Table Multiple Choice Question
 The Side by Side matrix table multiple choice question allows
you to ask many questions in one condensed table. Each
column within a side by side question is treated as a separate
question, possessing its own structure, format, and choices.
Each row is an item for which respondents will answer the
side by side questions.
 Rank Order Multiple Choice Question
 The Rank Order question type provides respondents the
unique opportunity to rank a set of items against each
other
 Constant Sum Multiple Choice Question
 Constant Sum multiple choice questions provide
respondents a way to enter numeric data. A Constant Sum
question allows respondents to enter numerical values for
a set of variables.
 Drag and Drop Multiple Choice Question
 Respondents in this type of survey question can drag and drop
the answer choices to re-order them as they choose.
 Single Select Image based Multiple Choice Question
 This is a multiple choice single select question which has
images next to the answer options. Radio buttons are used
for single select type questions.
 Multi Select Image based Multiple Choice Question
 The multi select image select multiple choice question type
Image displays multiple images to the respondent allowing
them to select their answer by clicking directly on the images.
Respondents are able to select multiple images that are already
uploaded by the survey creator.
 Image Rating Multiple Choice Question
 Image rating multiple choice questions are a great way to start
the survey as it makes the survey look attractive and helps the
respondent make distinctive choices. This question type can
be used in almost all types of surveys and helps the
respondents invariably.
ADVANTAGES
 Objective tests can sample a broad range of a course.

 Objective tests are rapidly marked.

 Students are not able to "bluff" or "pool" answers.

 Scoring is objective and reliable. (e.g. no halo effect)

 Distribution of scores is determined by the test - not by the

examiner.

 Only the objectives tested for are marked.

DISADVANTAGES
 Objective tests are time consuming to set.

 There is no credit for partial information.

 Objective tests may encourage guessing.

 Good objective tests are difficult to set .

 Student "selects" information.

 Objective tests may encourage reproduction learning.

LIMITATIONS

 Difficult and time-consuming to write good items that address

thinking skills above the factual level.

 The items are difficult to phrase so that all students interpret

them in the same way.

 When students study for multiple choice tests, they focus on

recognition, not recall. Recent learning theories indicate that

students need to process information to really learn it, so time

spent studying for recognition is not as effective as time spent

working with information.

 By guessing, students who don’t know the answer have a 25%

chance of correctly selecting the correct response in a multiple

choice item with 4 options. This decreases to 20% for items

with 5 options, etc.

OPTIONS
Options In particular, the person constructing the test should

AVOID USING:

 Serotyped or standard phrases which direct a student to the

correct answer

 Unequal length of options where, in order to make the key

unambiguously correct, the examiner makes it obviously longer

than the distracters

 mutually exclusive options where, if one option is incorrect, its

opposite must be correct.

 Overlapping alternatives when one or more options is a subset of

another

 Grammatical inconsistencies where options may be disregarded

because they are grammatically inconsistent with the stem

 Absolutes (never, always, only, none of the above, all of the above).

These options are usually incorrect

 The key in a different form from the distracters makes the

correct response more conspicuous

 Double negatives - causes great confusion. Where negatives are

used they should only be used in the stem and should be

highlighted by printing in capitals or by underlining. "None of

the above" should only be used when it is important to conceal a

correct response which is easily recognized

WRITE GOOD MCQ TEST
QUESTIONS
Multiple choice test questions, also known as items, can be an

effective and efficient way to assess learning outcomes. Multiple

choice test items have several potential advantages

VERSITILITY

Multiple choice test items can be written to assess various levels of

learning outcomes, from basic recall to application, analysis, and

evaluation. Because students are choosing from a set of potential

answers, however, there are obvious limits on what can be tested

with multiple choice items. For example, they are not an effective

way to test students’ ability to organize thoughts or articulate

explanations or creative ideas.

RELIABILITY
Reliability is defined as the degree to which a test consistently measures

a learning outcome. Multiple choice test items are less susceptible to

guessing than true/false questions, making them a more reliable means

of assessment. The reliability is enhanced when the number of MC

items focused on a single learning objective is increased. In addition,

the objective scoring associated with multiple choice test items frees

them from problems with scorer inconsistency that can plague scoring

of essay questions.
VALIDITY
Validity is the degree to which a test measures the learning

outcomes it purports to measure. Because students can typically

answer a multiple choice item much more quickly than an essay

question, tests based on multiple choice items can typically focus

on a relatively broad representation of course material, thus

increasing the validity of the assessment.

SUMMARY

In this topic MCQs we will see the definition of MCQs types,

advantages disadvantages, characteristics, limitation, option,

reliability, validity and parts of MCQs.

REFERENCES
www.slideshare.net.
www.utm.utoronto.ca